Infusion pump devices and systems are relatively well known in the medical arts, for use in delivering or dispensing an agent, such as insulin or another prescribed medication, to a patient. Use of infusion pump therapy has been increasing, especially for delivering insulin for diabetics. Some infusion pumps can be worn on the body of a patient and implement control schemes that monitor and regulate a patient's blood glucose level in a substantially continuous and autonomous manner.
Over time, the needs of a particular patient may change. For example, an individual's insulin sensitivity and/or insulin requirements may change as he or she ages or experiences lifestyle changes. Furthermore, each individual's needs may change in a manner that is unique relative to other patients. Accordingly, routine monitoring, doctor visits and manual adjustments to device settings may be performed to accommodate changes in an individual's needs. In such situations, it may be desirable to transmit infusion pump data to another device for monitoring, analysis, processing, device diagnostics, or the like. However, it can be impractical, inconvenient, or unnecessary to transmit infusion pump data on a frequent regular basis. Rather, larger batches of data may be transmitted intermittently.
Wireless communications protocols may limit or restrict throughput and undesirably increase the duration of time required for transferring data from the infusion pump to a point where users could potentially become frustrated or discouraged from doing so as frequently as needed or desired based on their medical condition. For example, Bluetooth low energy may limit bit rates to one megabit per second or less, which is a fraction of what is achievable with modern wired communications technologies. At the same time, providing an additional or dedicated physical communications interface can undesirably impact the size, form factor, resiliency, cost, or other aspects of the infusion pump. Accordingly, it is desirable to facilitate communicating data from a fluid infusion device in an expedient manner without compromising other design aspects of the device.